The Stuff under his Shoe
by One Schim
Summary: Barney pushed a button and then steps on something he'd rather not have stepped on. One-shot. Story set in Black Mesa.


_So, this is what happens when you press that button, _Barney thought wryly to himself as he looked at the result of a simple action. "Let's not do that again, shall we …" he muttered to no one in particular.

He got up to his feet, turned around and started to walk away when he suddenly felt something squishy beneath his foot, "Argh … no, damnit". Having a small idea of what he had tread on, Barney slowly lifted up his foot and took a look at it over his shoulder; but immediately turned away when he saw something pink and fleshy beneath it. "Sorry, doctor … whoever you were", he muttered again as he felt a shiver go down his spine.

Hopping on one leg, he moved over to one of the steel beams blocking the corridor left of him and scraped the _I-so-do-not-want-to-know-what-this-flesh-like-substance-is_ off the sole of his shoe; looking away and muttering the likes of _eww, godmnit, why me, oh for crying out loud _and _eww _again.

Then, and only then did he look back at his shoe (trying hard not to look at the beam) and was satisfied that whatever had been there was gone, well … except for a bit of blood. But he could live with that.

But as he turned around again, he saw a reflection of himself in the wrenched metal doors of what had once been the entry to a nice, large, and shiny freight elevator and noticed that he was not only covered in dust, but also by something else, strangely resembling the thing he had just scraped off his shoe.

"Oh … you have got to be kidding me".

Reluctantly, Barney moved one finger to the strange substance on his chest and prodded it. Strangely jelly-like, it returned to its original shape after having been prodded by the finger of a former Black Mesa— _Wait … not former, not yet, anyway—_ security guard. Holding back a shudder, he turned around and decided to sit down for a few moments. It was not like the world would end if he just sat down to catch his bearings and try to forget what was now in the middle of his bulletproof vest and on parts of his pants and probably on his helmet too, but most likely not on his back or on his butt. _That_ he would have felt sitting down. No, better not to think of what could've been.

But it was like the thing on his vest was yelling out to him, _'Look at me … feel me!' _ He knew that it was better not to give in to that primordial curiosity again. Once had been enough.

But he could not go on like this.

Gathering his courage in silence, he looked at the ceiling and sighed. The past hour had been terrible, if not catastrophic. Not only had he survived a crashing elevator, he had also found himself in the middle of a live version of Doom with a twist, seeing strange creatures wander around what was left of Black Mesa, killing and sometimes eating people he had talked to only yesterday. So many beers that he would now never have to buy so many of them. If he would ever be able to get one himself again.

But he realized that he would certainly never be able to buy a beer again, or buy someone else one, by sitting here like this, whining about some bodily flesh or brains (that had be it, right?) scattered all over his front.

He thought very hard about that one professor he disliked so very, very much; to the point that he had actually said 'Drop dead' on one occasion (out of hearing distance, off course).

"Ok, Doctor Albright. This is how it will go. I will remove you from my shirt and you will get out of my sight, never to be seen again. Got it?" Barney nodded. "I thought you would." Getting back on his feet, he braced himself for a few seconds and then, in a frenzy, swiped every bit of flesh-like goo off his vest, helmet and pants and jumped away. "Hah! Yeah!"

Still breathing heavily, he grabbed his gun that had fallen on the ground when the elevator came dropping down and quickly walked away, down the only corridor he could, realizing that after seeing so many mangled corpses, he had freaked over some brain on his chest and under his foot.

But then he smiled: it proved that even in this madness he hadn't lost his humanity. It meant that he still cared and didn't see a body as just a thing or some broken furniture. It meant that he was still Barney and that there was still hope that he would still be Barney when he got out of here.

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_I've been quite hesitant to write Barney as I wasn't sure that I'd capture the character of him correctly, but I'm quite satisfied with this little piece. Hope you guys liked it too :-)_.

_The idea came to me when I stepped in something weird the other day ... _


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